Sealed single rotor turbine

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for generating power wherein a fluid is accelerated and compressed within a rotating rotor in fluid passages extending outward from center of rotation, with addition of heat to said fluid either during compression, after compression, or both, and wherein said fluid is then decelerated within fluid passages extending inward with work being obtained during said deceleration. Heat is being removed from said fluid normally after said deceleration. The fluid being used is normally a gaseous fluid, such as nitrogen, ammonia or others, and said fluid is sealed within said rotor. The heating and cooling are provided by circulating a heating fluid or a cooling fluid through respective heat exchangers provided within said rotor. Said heating fluid may be either a liquid or a gas; if gas is used, said gas will gain in temperature within the rotating rotor and thus may be used to provide heating for the working fluid even when the entry temperature of said heating fluid is low. Cooling fluid is usually water.

United States Patent 1191 Eskeli 1 1 Jan. 21, 1975 SEALED SINGLE ROTOR TURBINE [76] Inventor: Michael Eskeli, 6220 Orchid Ln.,

Dallas, Tex. 75230 [22] Filed: Oct. 30, 1973 211 Appl. No; 410,985

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 404,406, Oct. 9,

Primary ExaminerHenry F. Raduazo [57] ABSTRACT A method and apparatus for generating power wherein a fluid is accelerated and compressed within a rotating rotor in fluid passages extending outward from center of rotation, with addition of heat to said fluid either during compression, after compression, or

1973' both, and wherein said fluid is then decelerated within fluid passages extending inward with work being ob- [52] U.S. Cl 60/643, 60/327, 415/178, mined during Said deceleration Heat is being removed 51 I Cl 165/861 45/1 from said fluid normally after said deceleration. The 1 {It-l .f being used is ly a gassous fl id h as [58] d 0 Search '1' 17862/401 nitrogen, ammonia or others, and said fluid is sealed 62/499, 60/327, 671, 643, 165/8 within said rotor. The heating and cooling are provided by circulating a heating fluid or a cooling'fluid [56] Reerences C'ted through respective heat exchangers provided within UNlTED STATES PATENTS said rotor. Said heating fluid may be either a liquid or 2,393,338 1/1946 Roebuck 62/401 a g if g is used, said g will gain in t p ratur 3,748,057 7/1973 Eskeli 415/178 within the rotating rotor and thus may be used to pro- 3,791,167 /1 Eskli 4l5/178 vide heating for the working fluid even when the entry temperature of aid heating is low Cooling 3,795,461 3/1974 Eskeli 415/178 is usually waten 3,809,017 5/1974 Eskeli 415/116 3,834,179 9/1974 Eskeli 415/64 6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures IO 11 12 l V K &\ l I I 1| FIR f1 O 8 I7 25 24 z SEALED SINGLE ROTOR TURBINE CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This is a continuation-in-part application of Turbine, Filed Oct. 9, 1973, Ser. No. 404,406.

The principles used with the turbine of this application were also used in Rotary Pressurizer, filed Sept. 20, 1973, Ser. No. 399,199, and Rotor, filed Aug. 13, 1973, Ser. No. 388,111; and Rotary Heat Exchanger, filed Aug. 31, 1973, Ser. No. 393,571 and Rotary Power Generator, filed Dec. 12, 1972 Ser. No. 317,510 now abandoned.

This invention relates generally to devices for generating power in response of a fluid being flowed from a higher energy level to a lower energy level by passing said fluid through a rotating turbine rotor.

There have been various types of turbines previously; in some of these a fluid is accelerated in single or multiple stationary nozzles and then passed to vanes mounted on a rotating rotor wheel, where the kinetic energy of the moving fluid is converted to power.

These conventional turbines normally have high energy losses due to fluid friction, especially between the rotor vanes and the fluid where the velocity differentials are usually large.

FIG. 1 is a cross section of one form of the turbine, and

FIG. 2 is an end view of the same unit.

FIG. 3 is a cross section of another form of the turbine, and

FIG. 4 is an end view of the unit shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a pressure-enthalpy diagram for the fluid being used, with a work cycle for the turbine illustrated thereon.

It is an object of this invention to provide a turbine which has the working fluid sealed within the turbine rotor with heating and cooling being provided within said rotor. This allows the rotor to be within an evacuated casing thus reducing friction losses on external surfaces of said rotor wheel.

Referring to FIG. 1, therein is illustrated a cross section of one form of the turbine, with portions removed to show interior details. The working fluid enters the turbine compression side via entry opening 27, and passes outward within said rotor with vanes 29 assuring that said working fluid will rotate with said rotor. Said vanes 29 are curved forward, thus increasing the tangential velocity of said working fluid to a value that is greater than the tangential velocity of said rotor at the outward ends of said vanes 29, after which said working fluid is discharged forward from said vanes. Said vanes 29 also serve as heat exchange members for adding heat to said working fluid; heating fluid is being circulated within conduits 22 and said heating fluid is being supplied and returned via shaft passages and through entry and exit 24 and 25, and distribution conduits 28; said conduits 22 forming a heating heat exchanger together with vanes 29. After leaving vanes 29, said working fluid enters expansion passageways near the periphery of said rotor and passes via passage 12 and enters inward working fluid passageways with vanes 13 assuring that said working fluid will rotate with said rotor, and for passing work associated with deceleration of said working fluid to said rotor. After deceleration and expansion, said working fluid is passed to a heat exchanger 14, where a cooling fluid is circulated through said heat exchanger and in heat exchange relationship with said working fluid, with vanes 13 also serying as heat exchange members; cooling fluid being circulated to said heat exchanger 14 via rotor shaft passages with said cooling fluid entering and leaving via openings 17 and 18. After cooling, said working fluid is passed to compression fluid passageways via opening 27, thus completing the working fluid cycle. 10 is casing, 11 is rotor, 15 and 23 are seals and bearings for rotor shaft 16, and 20 is opening to casing where a vacuum pump may be connected. 19 is cooling fluid passage within rotor shaft, and 28 is heating fluid distribution conduit. Space 21 is provided to allow the said working fluid tangential speed to equalize prior to entry to passage 12 and spaces formed by vanes 13. 30 is rotor center wall.

In FIG. 2, 10 is casing, 11 is rotor, 12 is fluid passage, 13 is vane, 14 is heat exchanger for cooling, 31 indicates rotor direction of rotation, 16 is rotor shaft, 29 is vane, 28 is heating fluid distribution conduit, 22 is heating fluid conduit forming heating heat exchanger.

In FIG. 3, a cross section of another form of the tur bine is shown. 40 is casing, 41 is rotor, 42 is fluid passage near rotor periphery for working fluid, 44 are vanes within inward working fluid passages, 45 is working fluid passage from expansion side to compression side, 46 is cooling heat exchanger, 47 and 58 are seals and bearings for rotor shaft 48, 49 and 50 are cooling fluid entry and exit, 51 is opening to casing where a vacuum pump may be connected, 52 is space for working fluid, 53 are nozzles for working fluid oriented to discharge said working fluid forward, 54 is heat exchanger for heat addition to working fluid, 55 and 56 are entry and exit for heating fluid, 60 is heating fluid distribution conduit, and 59 is vane.

In FIG. 4, an end view of the turbine shown in FIG. 3, is illustrated with a section removed to show interior details. 40 is casing, 41 is rotor, 44 is vane, 42 is fluid space, 46 is cooling heat exchanger, 48 is shaft, 61 indicates direction of rotation for rotor, 54 is heating heat exchanger, 53 is working fluid nozzle, 60 is heating fluid distribution conduit, 59 are vanes.

In FIG. 5, a typical pressure-enthalpy diagram for the working fluid is shown. is a line along which pressure increases, and 71 is line along which enthalpy increases. 72 is constant enthalpy line, 73 is constant entropy line, 74 is constant pressure line. The turbine work cycle is illustrated by loop 75-76-77-78. Compression within the turbine is from 75 to 76, heat eddition from 76 to 77, work extraction and expansion from 77 to 78 and heat removal from 78 to 75.

In this turbine, the working fluid is sealed within the rotor, and there circulated by centrifugal force and by pressure differentials created using heating and cooling of said working fluid by passing through heating and cooling heat exchangers. The addition of heat after or partially during compression will increase the enthalpy of said working fluid; this increase in enthalpy and decrease in density of said working fluid will allow a greater tip speed for the vanes on the expansion side of said turbine and thus the work generated on the expansion side will be greater than the work input on compression side where the density of said working fluid is greater than on said expansion side; in FIG. 3, the heat exchanger 54 is within compression side of the rotor, and vane 44 is within expansion side of the rotor. The removal of heat in heat exchanger for cooling will reduce the temperature of the working fluid to a predetermined value suitable for entry to said compression side.

In operation, a suitable quantity of said working fluid is contained within said rotor, and a suitable external starting means is employed to bring said rotor to opera tional speed. Heating fluid is passed to said heat exchanger within said rotor to add heat to said working fluid, and cooling fluid is also passed to said cooling heat exchanger to remove heat from said working fluid. Said working fluid is compressed and accelerated within said outwardly working fluid passageways, and heat is added, after which said fluid is discharged forward thus increasing the absolute tangential velocity of said working fluid to a value that is greater than the tangential velocity of said rotor in the area of the said discharge. Said working fluid is then passed to working fluid passageways that are a greater distance from the center of rotation and thus have a greater tangential velocity than said area where said working fluid was discharged. After entry to said working fluid passageways said working fluid is passed inwardly toward the rotor center with accompanying deceleration with vanes being provided to assure that said working fluid will rotate with said rotor and that work associated with said deceleration is passed to said rotor. After expansion and deceleration, said working fluid is passed through a heat exchanger for removal of heat and to provide working fluid at a predetermined temperature passing to said compressing side passageways. Thus, said rotor will supply work to said working fluid to accelerate said working fluid on compression side, and said working fluid will generate work and pass it to said rotor on said expansion side. Said expansion work, less said compression work, is the useful work output of this turbine.

In the unit shown in FIG. 2, vanes 29 are shown to be curved forward thus providing for the acceleration of said working fluid. In the unit shown in FIG. 4, similar acceleration is accomplished by passing said working fluid via nozzles discharging in forward direction. Vanes 13 in FIG. 1 and vanes 44 in FIG. 3, may be suitably curved, if the direction of the working fluid entering spaces between these vanes is not in radial direction; this is illustrated in FIG. 2.

The heat exchangers are shown in the drawings to be located within the working fluid passageways; these heat exchangers may be also be built with cooling fluid and heating fluid passages within rotor walls, with fins within said working fluid passages. Also, other forms of 'heat exchangers may be used without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The rotor walls are normally built from heavy material sections to withstand the stresses generated by high rotational speeds, with said walls usually being thicker near rotor center. Heat exchangers and vanes are normally bonded or brazed to rotor walls to prevent movement and crushing under heavy centrifugal stresses. Similarly, the heat exchanger fluid conduits are firmly anchored to rotor walls to prevent movement.

Fluids used as working fluid may include fluids such as nitrogen, ammonia, or others. The amount of heat addition to said working fluid in said heating heat exchanger is relatively small, usually between and 40 BTO/lb passing through said heating heat exchanger. Similarly, after expansion the heat removal will be small. With these small heat additions and removals, the turbine efflciency is very high, with a large portion of the heat energy added being converted to work; this is mainly due to the small amount of heat rejected in the cooling heat exchanger. This is quite different from the situation in systems using steam, where a large portion of the heat provided in the boiler to said steam, is rejected and lost in the condenser following the steam turbine. Also, in the turbine of this invention, by suitably pressurizing the turbine cavity, the density of the said working fluid is increased, and thus generous amounts of work can be obtained from a turbine of relatively small size.

The heating fluid may be a liquid, or it may be a gas. Said heating fluid must be at a sufficiently high temperature at entry to rotor to allow heat transfer to said working fluid; alternately, said heating fluid must be selected to have a greater temperature increase than said working fluid when within said rotating rotor, so that heat may be transferred to said working fluid. If said heating fluid is a liquid, the entry temperature must be sufficient to provide for said heat transfer, since liquids such as water have only a small temperature increase when compressed. When said heating fluid is a gas such as Freon l2, and said working fluid is a gas such as nitrogen, then the temperature increase for said heating fluid is sufficient to transfer heat from said heating fluid to said working fluid within said rotor, even when the entry temperature of said heating fluid is relatively low; in situations of this type, physical properties of the fluids determine actual temperatures of the fluids within the rotor.

The cooling fluid is normally water, or some other fluid at suitable temperature.

Various controls, governors and the like, are employed with the device of this invention. These do not form a part of this invention and are not further described herein.

Nozzles 53 are normally sized and shaped to obtain highest attainable exit velocity for the working fluid, for the pressure differential available. Similarly, the vanes 29 are at their outward ends arranged to form nozzles for the discharge of said working fluid, at highest attainable exit velocity for the pressure differential available.

The working fluid radial velocity within the rotor is normally low, to reduce friction losses and to allow for heat exchange between said working fluid and said heating and cooling fluids in their respective heat exchangers. The flow velocity is normally controlled by sizing said nozzles for the desired amount of flow.

The temperature of the heating fluid entering said rotor heat exchanger, as noted hereinbefore, may be low, if the physical properties of said heating fluid and said working fluid are such that said heating fluid has a greater temperature increase within rotor than said working fluid. Thus, said heating fluid may be supplied to said heating heat exchanger at a temperature that is equal to the temperature of ambient surroundings; then the said heating fluid will leave said rotor at a lower temperature. At the same time, the cooling fluid may be water at natural temperature when entering said rotor.

The physical size of the two heat exchangers may be as desired, but normally, the heat exchange area of the cooling heat exchanger must be greater than the surface area of the heating heat exchanger. The rate of heat exchange at the higher working fluid pressure existing at the heating coil is greater than at the lower pressure at the cooling coil, requiring a larger area for the said cooling heat exchanger.

When said heating fluid is a gas, said heating fluid heat exchanger heating fluid passages may require fins also for the said heating fluid to improve heat transfer from said heating fluid. Such fins have not been shown, as they are expected to be within existing art.

Thermal insulation may be applied as desired to prevent undesirable heat transfer. Such insulation may be required for the working fluid passages near the rotor center to prevent heat transfer from rotor walls to working fluid during after passage through said cooling heat exchanger.

What is claimed is:

1. A turbine for generating power and comprising:

a. a casing for enclosing rotor therewithin and for supporting shaft;

b. a shaft journalled in bearings in said casing for rotation;

c. a rotating rotor mounted on said shaft so as to rotate in unison therewith, said rotor being of circular configuration in cross section and adapted for high speed rotation, said rotor having first radially outwardly extending working fluid passageways with vanes therewithin for ensuring that said working fluid therewithin rotates at the same rotational speed as said rotor for effecting centrifugal compression and effecting an elevated pressure; said first radially extending passageways having at their outward ends means for discharging said working fluid in forward direction which is the direction of rotation; said first radially extending passageways being provided with heating heat exchanger near the outward end of said vanes to add heat to said working fluid prior of its said discharge forward; said working fluid being discharged from said forward discharge means to a first cavity, wherein said working fluid will have an absolute tangential velocity greater than the tangential velocity of said first cavity; said first cavity being situated outwardly from said first radially extending working fluid passageways; said working fluid being passed from said first cavity to radially inward extending working fluid passageways with the entry from said first cavity to said inward passageways being at the outward side of said first cavity; said radially inward extending passageways having vanes therewithin to ensure that said working fluid therewithin rotates at the same rotational speed as said rotor for receiving the work associated with deceleration of said working fluid; said working fluid then being passed to a cooling heat exchanger located near the rotor center for removal of heat from said working fluid; said working fluid then passing through an opening near the rotor center adapted for passing said working fluid and communicating with said first outward extending passageways; said heating heat exchanger being provided with a heating fluid via passageways through said rotor shaft and then distributed to said heat exchanger and then discharged via said rotor shaft said cooling heat exchanger being provided with cooling fluid via passages through said rotor shaft and then distributed to said cooling heat exchanger and then discharged via said rotor shaft;

d. a working fluid being circulated within said rotor, with a predetermined amount of said working fluid having been scaled within said rotor;

e. a heating fluid being circulated within said heating heat exchanger in heat exchanger relationship with said working fluid;

f. a cooling fluid being circulated within said cooling heat exchanger and being in heat exchange relationship with said working fluid.

2. The turbine of claim 1 wherein said heating fluid is a liquid.

3. The turbine of claim 1 wherein said heating fluid is a gas.

4. The turbine of claim 1 wherein said cooling fluid is a liquid.

5. The turbine of claim 1 wherein said working fluid forward discharge means are nozzles oriented to discharge said working fluid forward with said nozzles being sized and shaped to obtain highest attainable exit velocity for the pressure differential between entry and exit ends of said nozzles.

6. A method of generating power and comprising:

a. scaling within a rotating rotor cavity a predetermined amount of gaseous working fluid;

b. compressing said working fluid within outwardly extending passageways of said rotor, and adding heat to said working fluid during and after compression, thus increasing the enthalpy of said working fluid;

c. passing said working fluid through accelerating means after said compression, thus providing said working fluid with an absolute tangential velocity that is greater than the tangential velocity of said rotor in the area of said accelerating means;

d. passing said working fluid to inward extending passageways, with the entry ends of said inward extending passageways having a tangential velocity approximately equal to the tangential velocity of said working fluid entering said passageways;

e. cooling said working fluid near the center of rotation to a predetermined temperature and passing said cooled working fluid near the rotor center to said outward extending passageways. 

1. A turbine for generating power and comprising: a. a casing for enclosing rotor therewithin and for supporting shaft; b. a shaft journalled in bearings in said casing for rotation; c. a rotating rotor mounted on said shaft so as to rotate in unison therewith, said rotor being of circular configuration in cross section and adapted for high speed rotation, said rotor having first radially outwardly extending working fluid passageways with vanes therewithin for ensuring that said working fluid therewithin rotates at the same rotational speed as said rotor for effecting centrifugal compression and effecting an elevated pressure; said first radially extending passageways having at their outward ends means for discharging said working fluid in forward direction which is the direction of rotation; said first radially extending passageways being provided with heating heat exchanger near the outward end of said vanes to add heat to said working fluid prior of its said discharge forward; said working fluid being discharged from said forward discharge means to a first cavity, wherein said working fluid will have an absolute tangential velocity greater than the tangential velocity of said first cavity; said first cavity being situated outwardly from said first radially extending working fluid passageways; said working fluid being passed from said first cavity to radially inward extending working fluid passageways with the entry from said first cavity to said inward passageways being at the outward side of said first cavity; said radially inward extending passageways having vanes therewithin to ensure that said working fluid therewithin rotates at the same rotational speed as said rotor for receiving the work associated with deceleration of said working fluid; said working fluid then being passed to a cooling heat exchanger located near the rotor center for removal of heat from said working fluid; said working fluid then passing through an opening near the rotor center adapted for passing said working fluid and communicating with said first outward extending passageways; said heating heat exchanger being provided with a heating fluid via passageways through said rotor shaft and then distributed to said heat exchanger and then discharged via said rotor shaft said cooling heat exchanger being provided with cooling fluid via passages through said rotor shaft and then distributed to said cooling heat exchanger and then discharged via said rotor shaft; d. a working fluid being circulated within said rotor, with a predetermined amount of said working fluid having been sealed within said rotor; e. a heating fluid being circulated within said heating heat exchanger in heat exchanger relationship with said working fluid; f. a cooling fluid being circulated within said cooling heat exchanger and being in heat exchange relationship with said working fluid.
 2. The turbine of claim 1 wherein said heating fluid is a liquid.
 3. The turbine of claim 1 wherein said heating fluid is a gas.
 4. The turbine of claim 1 wherein said cooling fluid is a liquid.
 5. The turbine of claim 1 wherein said working fluid forward discharge means are nozzles oriented to discharge said working fluid forward with said nozzles being sized and shaped to obtain highest attainable exit velocity for the pressure differential between entry and exit ends of said nozzles.
 6. A method of generating power and comprising: a. scaling within a rotating rotor cavity a predetermined amount of gaseous working fluid; b. compressing said working fluid within outwardly extending passageways of said rotor, and adding heat to said working fluid during and after compression, thus increasing the enthaLpy of said working fluid; c. passing said working fluid through accelerating means after said compression, thus providing said working fluid with an absolute tangential velocity that is greater than the tangential velocity of said rotor in the area of said accelerating means; d. passing said working fluid to inward extending passageways, with the entry ends of said inward extending passageways having a tangential velocity approximately equal to the tangential velocity of said working fluid entering said passageways; e. cooling said working fluid near the center of rotation to a predetermined temperature and passing said cooled working fluid near the rotor center to said outward extending passageways. 